Potentially eligible players thread

[Olé Olé]

Coupled with our qualification, he is the gift that keeps on giving at the moment. Loving it.

It's hilarious. Circumstances much different etc. but Brady, Hoolahan and Long had matches at the weekend and a few days beforehand could be seen enjoying themselves in a Dublin bar. That was met by adoration by the Irish media and public.

I had a good chuckle to myself the other day when I heard Gareth Bale's agent being mentioned on Second Captains podcast. Reminded me of the link that was drawn between the agent urging Bale to play with England and the possibility of him doing the same with Grealish. Incidentally, Bale had only one English-born grandparent but he neglected to play for them. Grealish, similarly, only has one English-born grandparent but made the opposite decision! Different circumstances, but funny in an ironic kinda way.

[Fixer82]

I don't think there'll be many players forcing their way into the squad if any. O'Neill is an excellent motivator and man-manager and won't want to upset the apple cart unless really necessary. I can't see a player coming out of the woodwork and into the squad a la Babb, McAteer, McLoughlin in the 90s.

The only newish players I see possibly making the squad would be Arter and Judge

[tetsujin1979]

Brady, Hoolahan and Long had matches at the weekend and a few days beforehand could be seen enjoying themselves in a Dublin bar. That was met by adoration by the Irish media and public.

Funny how things change, remember when Robbie Keane was crucified in the press for going out in Dublin a week before the qualifier against France in 2005?

[Olé Olé]

Funny how things change, remember when Robbie Keane was crucified in the press for going out in Dublin a week before the qualifier against France in 2005?

Haha I don't. The media didn't seem as interesting, memorable or accessible in my tweens.

[DannyInvincible]

Must have been a slow news day in RTÉ Sport. This is one of their main "stories" at the minute: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish...l-on-complete/

Almost two months after switching his allegiance from Ireland, Jack Grealish is still not eligible to represent England.

FIFA has confirmed that his paperwork hasn’t been processed, though they have given no reason for the delay.

A simple phone-call to the FAI would have told them that there is no delay because the process can take up to 3-6 months.

[Closed Account]

Must have been a slow news day in RTÉ Sport. This is one of their main "stories" at the minute: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish...l-on-complete/



A simple phone-call to the FAI would have told them that there is no delay because the process can take up to 3-6 months.

But why does it take 3-6 months?

[TrapAPony]

But why does it take 3-6 months?

.....Especially for someone that's actually born in England.

[DannyInvincible]

But why does it take 3-6 months?

It just does.

I have no idea why, to be honest. There are probably documents to be sent back and forth between three international parties. The documents need to be checked and verified. I'll try find out more.

[DannyInvincible]

Lamar Neagle is moving from Seattle Sounders to DC United: http://www.soundersfc.com/post/2015/...location-money

[Park_Lane]

But why does it take 3-6 months?

It's Fifa. You won't get anything done in Fifa without the correct paper(preferably in bundles of 50's)

[DannyInvincible]

But why does it take 3-6 months?

I said I'd try find out more so I got in touch with Yann Hafner again to see if he had any further info or insight into the switch process.

In respect of the length of time it takes for FIFA's Player Status Committee to process a request for a change of association, I posed the following to him:

I understand that the actual process of a player switching from one international association to another can take 3-6 months for the FIFA Players' Status Committee to complete. Have you any insight or inkling as to why it takes this length of time? I presume documents have to be sent back and forth (and verified) between three international parties - FIFA and the two associations concerned - but 3-6 months still seems like quite a long time for what one might think would be a fairly straightforward process on the face of it.

Yann provided me with the following insight:

The process comprises two phases :

i) the investigation of the FIFA administration;

ii) the Decision of the Judge of the Players’ Status Committee.

It can happen that the FIFA administration has to wait for documents from the previous association before it is able to process the case. This may be the case if the national federation the player no longer wishes to represent fail to submit the relevant documents or if the authorities of a certain country are not in a position to provide the FIFA administration with said documents (due to war, absence of written records, etc.). Then, the Judge has to rule on the case. This again can take time. In light of the foregoing, a time frame of 3 months is not that long when you take into consideration all the steps of the process.

So evidential documents may well be required from both relevant associations and states. I wondered then if an unhappy association could stall a switch by refusing or delaying to send the necessary documents and asked the following:

Presumably FIFA have some way around potential stalling and an unhappy association cannot ultimately stand in the way of a player's request? How can FIFA force the issue if an association is delaying matters?

Presumably, so long as everything is in accordance with the Regulations, the Judge will ratify the switch or are there any other reasons as to why he may reject the request, assuming all the documents are otherwise in order?

Yann responded as follows:

If you read the article regarding Breel Embolo [http://foot.ie/threads/147164-Eligib...=1#post1805274], you will see that the Football association of Cameroon did not submit all the relevant documents at first and that it had the effect to delay the process. In order to avoid such stalling tactics, I am assuming that FIFA sets a deadline to comply and clearly indicates that it can decide based on the record as it stands.

The judge has to appreciate all the documents, especially if an exemption from Article 7 is requested. To date, only one request to change affiliation has been denied. All the other requests - not complying with the relevant regulations - have been withdrawn before they were submitted to the Judge. This is why there is a pretty high success rate.

Of course, the case of Breel Embolo concerned the granting by the Players' Status Committee of an exemption from an application of the article 7 criteria rather than a request for change of association, but the judgment process is similar in practice. The reason why the football association of Cameroon had to be involved was so that they could confirm that Embolo had no international cap with them.

This is Circular n° 877 dated the 21st of November, 2003, which outlines all the documents required to switch association: http://resources.fifa.com/mm/documen..._877_en_89.pdf

[CraftyToePoke]

So evidential documents may well be required from both relevant associations and states. I wondered then if an unhappy association could stall a switch by refusing or delaying to send the necessary documents and asked the following

Maybe da boyaz in Dublin are holding out on the paperwork pending the safe return of our U21 POTY gong

Anyway, Danny, a question, NI & Scotland are after this player, presently according to this :

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/s...iker-1-7127017

Conor Washington, 11 this season, 9 in his last ten when this went to print. Peterborough fans very twitchy about him moving up in the Jan window. Qualifies through NI grandparents, can he play for us ? Or is is not certain ?

[samhaydenjr]

Still eligible Will Keane going back to Man United: [SIZE=2]http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/english/2016/0101/757263-goal-shy-manchester-united-recall-will-keane/

Hasn't been prolific at Preston, with 2 goals in 22 games. But watch him get 10 by the end of the season, break into the England senior squad next season and we'll be kicking ourselves for not testing the waters with him, at least.


[/SIZE]

[DannyInvincible]

Maybe da boyaz in Dublin are holding out on the paperwork pending the safe return of our U21 POTY gong

Anyway, Danny, a question, NI & Scotland are after this player, presently according to this :

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/s...iker-1-7127017

Conor Washington, 11 this season, 9 in his last ten when this went to print. Peterborough fans very twitchy about him moving up in the Jan window. Qualifies through NI grandparents, can he play for us ? Or is is not certain ?

My understanding is that Washington would be entitled to Irish citizenship through his (Irish citizen or citizenship-eligible) grandparents and, if he did acquire citizenship (by registering in the Foreign Births Register, presuming he hasn't done so already), would then be eligible to play for us by virtue of article 7 of the Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes, which relates to the acquisition of a new nationality.

FIFA appear to consider the whole island the "territory of the [FAI]" for the purposes of ascertaining eligibility to play for Ireland under article 7 as Irish nationality law has island-wide application. If article 7 was to be interpreted and applied literally, however, I'm not convinced the likes of Washington would actually be eligible to play for us and I think the IFA could actually have made a compelling case here to the CAS had they wanted to. In saying that, the CAS might well have dismissed such an appeal and have adjudged FIFA to be justified in applying a purposive interpretation rather than a strictly literal one.

To the best of my knowledge, Alex Bruce and Adam Barton were able to play for us on account grandparents who were born north of the border, just to provide some examples of players who would have been in the same shoes as Washington.

[Murph 1]

Hope Martin O Neill/Keane have a look at Washington and at least give him the option of Declaring for us if eligible. While we're reasonably well served up front at the moment -that will not always be the case, As we approach a New World Cup Qualifying campaign post Euro 2016 the options look a little light.

[DannyInvincible]

Just saw this on Twitter; Australia-born River Plate (Argentina) player Gavin De Niese possesses an Irish passport, so is presumably eligible to play for us too.

Some further info on him: http://www.outsider-mag.fr/wp-conten...tsider-Mag.pdf and http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/gavin-de-niese

[tetsujin1979]

Friend of mine is Argentinian, and lives in Buenos Aires, so I asked him did he know anything about Gavin. Unfortunately, he was released by River Plate earlier this month, and is currently a free agent: http://lapaginamillonaria.com/river-...n-libres-river
(via google translate)

The Australian flyer was released and no longer belongs to River. 25 other young players also failed to integrate the smaller divisions of the band. Gavin De Niese is an Australian born in 1996 flyer who shot to fame when he began to integrate the lower divisions of River. The midfielder arrived in first-name terms with the Reserve and had aspirations to get to first, but failed.
Finally, De Niese was released along with other 25 youth who were part of the Millionaire quarry. Pablo Barboza, Peter Formosa, Mark Muller and Santiago Ojeda are the remaining members of the 1996 class were free.

[eekers]

Surely Tom Carroll at Tottenham might be eligible. I've watched him come through for years. He's really turned a corner now and shown he can dictate tempo in the middle of the pitch in the premier league. He's the type of passer we need in the Ireland midfield.

[TrapAPony]

FAI are trying to convince 19 year old Coventry midfielder James Maddison to play for us. Looks a talent this lad & there are a good few Premiership teams looking at him.
https://twitter.com/IrishSunSport/st...13176051798016

[Olé Olé]

FAI are trying to convince 19 year old Coventry midfielder James Maddison to play for us. Looks a talent this lad & there are a good few Premiership teams looking at him.
https://twitter.com/IrishSunSport/st...13176051798016

Coventry has really become a real hotbed for us with some successful and unsuccessful attempts i.e. Cyrus Christie, Daniel Crowley, Jack Grealish (not too far away), Callum Wilson (doesn't appear eligible though) and now Maddison.